Amid Import Invasion, National Steel Industry Believed to Have a Great Opportunity to Grow the Business

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, National steel industry is considered still has a great opportunity to grow its business amid import rush along with the increase of production capacity in global level.

This was stated by the President Director of PT Krakatau Steel (Persero) Tbk. Mas Wigrantoro Roes Setiyadi who is also Chairman of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industries Association (IISIA) in Jakarta, Monday (25/6/2018).

"SEAISI's latest data shows significant increases in steel consumption, from 12.67 million tons in 2016 to 13.59 million tons in 2017," he said.

Nevertheless, he added, the national steel industry still needs a long-term solution to balance the upstream and downstream's capacity to become more integrated.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry of Airlangga Hartarto said, it is necessary to synchronize policies in favor of the national steel industry in view of the potential of the prospective domestic market in the future.

"Moreover, as a basic component of economic growth in every country, the steel industry is called the mother of industries which is the backbone for other industrial activities, such as machinery and equipment, automotive, maritime, and electronics," he said.

The Ministry of Industry noted that the demand for national crude steel is currently at nearly 14 million tons, but it can only be fulfilled by domestic crude steel production of 8-9 million tons per year, the rest is supplied from China, Japan and South Korea, Taiwan, India, and others.

Therefore, Airlangga continued, it is increasingly spur the increase in production capacity of the national steel industry.

"Production of domestic steel industry continues to be optimized and directed to the development of high value added special products, so we no longer need to import," said Airlangga.